As I’m sure you are all well aware, I’ve been working as a volunteer documenting the contents of Dow’s Pharmacy for the National Trust. A few months ago, I came across a shoe box containing some boxes of old spectacle … Continue reading →

Yesterday, I tweeted a link to a report from Haaretz on the excavation of Napoleonic era graves on Nelson’s island in Aboukir bay off of Alexandria. It’s a good read, but there was one thing that struck me as slightly … Continue reading →

Sometime ago I wrote about the paucity of decorative ceramic medicine pots in Australia. These pots, usually with a nicely printed lid are quite common overseas, but seem to be less common in Australia, and at the time of my … Continue reading →

Now I know I’ve been banging on about the loss of knowledge as regards analogue magnetic media – audio and video tape – but yesterday I was reminded that it’s not just knowing about magnetic media that’s important. Yesterday when … Continue reading →

I’ve recently blogged about digitising analogue tape cassettes, and reading old 9 track tapes, both of which covered the problem of getting data back from old media. The equipment goes, people retire, and suddenly the data’s inaccessible. It’s inaccessible because … Continue reading →

A few months ago, I wrote about lunacy in the Victorian goldfields in the nineteenth century, or rather I didn’t, but I did pose the question about the treatment of the wandering disturbed who inevitably would have been attracted to … Continue reading →

The most recent post on the Christchurch Uncovered blog has been gnawing away at me over the past few days. In the post the author suggests that what we find in the archaeological record are those items that were seen … Continue reading →